melon

It wouldn’t be springtime at Endless Simmer without at least one weird melon post from yours truly! We all know they’re my specialty. Seriously. Anyway, I was shopping at my beloved Central Market last weekend when I stumbled upon samples of what I thought were cantaloupe. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But! Rob pointed out the sign next to the display. “It’s not cantaloupe, it’s mag melon,” he told me. Mag melon?! I thought he was misreading. Turns out I was underestimating his reading comprehension; this was indeed mag melon.

Here’s what that little orange sign up there has to tell us.

Mag melon has a relatively short growing cycle and is grown in temperate climates. Its small seed cavity provides more value per purchase. It contains higher fiber, protein, carotene, and Vitamin C than that of a traditional cantaloupe.

So what did the sample taste like? Well, a lot like cantaloupe. It was very dense and sweet, not mealy at all (I can’t stand mealy melon, ugh) and we brought one home with us! If you see one at your local market, you should do the same. Can’t hate on an extra dose of fiber, protein, and Vitamin C.

We all know I have a strange and deep love affair with melon and love discovering new varieties. Well, I’m BACK with another wonderful summertime discovery: the Santa Claus melon.

What? Santa? In June? Yep. Apparently it’s also called a Christmas melon because it lasts forever, from when it’s ripe in the summer “until Christmastime” according to produce lore (yes, “produce lore”—although I’d love to see if that statement is actually true given our sizzling hot Texas summers). It did keep in the fridge for about a month, I’ll give it that much – we found this guy at our local Central Market several weeks ago and them forgot about him until the other night, when I was digging through the bottom of a drawer in the fridge.

Anyway, this Santa can’t tell if you’ve been naughty or nice, but it can delight your tastebuds. While it kinda looks like a watermelon on the outside, it’s actually from the cantaloupe family and has a similar texture and goopy center of seed pods. I would kind of call it… a honeydew plus cantaloupe combo, super juicy and soft (but not in a gross, mealy way).

If you see a Santa Claus melon at your grocery store or farmers market, don’t be intimidated. Take it home and get into the holiday spirit. I just ate it plain but it would be great with some prosciutto and feta, maybe a little mint… okay, too many good ideas, I need to pick up another one!

I love melon. Like, LOVE melon. I’ve been known to eat a whole watermelon in one sitting, which is impressive yet also kinda gross.

Anyway, being such a summertime melon lover, you would THINK I knew all the types of melons available on God’s green earth! But you would be wrong. I was at the local farmer’s market around closing time on Sunday, and this great produce stall was selling melons 2 for $7. I don’t even know if that’s a good deal, but I went for it. I selected a lovely Tuscan cantaloupe, and something that looked like a funky honeydew.

“What is this?” I asked the pleasant merchant.
“Oh, it’s an interesting one. It’s called a Galia melon… it’s Israeli in origin. It tastes like a honeydew, but more grassy and tropical,” she informed me.

Summer is here with all its mighty heat, and we are doing more than just cranking up the AC to stay cool. We are stripping down to the flesh and getting dirtied-up with some rum. Yes, we are totally talking fruit and Poptailing here.

If you’ve been with us from the start of this Poptail series, you know we are taking classic drinks and getting a bit topsy-turvy with them. Along with that we’ve tried to avoid expensive ingredients and stuck to the basics for the alcohol portions so you don’t have to choose between a Saturday night date and your boozy Poptail.

This week we’re claiming the daiquiri for some freezer fun. We’re ditching the cocktail umbrellas and pitching the curvy bottom glass. These daiquiris are getting a shake up and cool down in a popsicle mold.